Ballistic missile test-fired from California coastal base

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. (AP) - The U.S. has test-fired an intercontinental ballistic missile from California for the second time in seven days.

The Air Force says an unarmed Minuteman 3 blasted off from a silo at Vandenberg Air Force Base Wednesday morning and delivered a mock warhead to a target at Kwajalein (kwah-juh-leen) Atoll in the Pacific Ocean after a 4,000-mile flight.

The test of the nuclear missile took 10 months to plan. Another Minuteman 3 was launched from the same base exactly a week earlier.

The U.S. has about 450 of the missiles and they are routinely tested. But the latest tests come amid rising tensions with North Korea, which has tested its own nuclear missiles - including some designed to reach the United States.

The U.S. has sent warships to the region to deter that country from conducting such tests.

Ballistic missile test shot from California coastal base

A streak of light trails off into the night sky as the US military test fires an unarmed intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) at Vandenberg Air Force Base, some 130 miles (209 kms) northwest of Los Angeles, California early on May 3, 2017. / AFP PHOTO / RINGO CHIU (Photo credit should read RINGO CHIU/AFP/Getty Images)

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A streak of light trails off into the night sky as the US military test fires an unarmed intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) at Vandenberg Air Force Base, some 130 miles (209 kms) northwest of Los Angeles, California early on May 3, 2017. / AFP PHOTO / RINGO CHIU (Photo credit should read RINGO CHIU/AFP/Getty Images)